Heidi Dunn
SCIENCE COORDINATOR
AQUATIC ECOLOGIST
MALACOLOGIST
Ms. Dunn was President of Ecological Specialists, Inc. (ESI) from 1990 to 2016. ESI merged with EcoAnalysts where she currently serves as Science Coordinator for the Missouri Office. She is dedicated to providing high quality service to all clients. Since 1990, she has successfully completed over 650 projects involving fish, invertebrates, and unionid mussels throughout the Midwest for management and regulatory purposes. She is active with several groups involved in management and protection of freshwater unionids; including the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (Past-President 2019, President 2017 to 2019, President-Elect 2015 to 2017, Treasurer 1998 to 2015, Chair Guidelines and Techniques Committee 1998 to 2002), Ohio River Valley Ecosystem-Freshwater Mussel Group (1994 to Present), and Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee- Mussel Committee (1990 to Present).
Ms. Dunn has been in the ecological consulting business since 1981. She has conducted faunal inventories, impact analysis, and licensing surveys in 18 states. She is experienced with developing protocols for and conducting surveys, long-term monitoring, and unionid relocations, impact assessment, Section 7 and Section 10 (endangered species act) consultation, and regulatory agency coordination. Her primary interest is in large river and stream ecology, and her taxonomic expertise includes unionid mussels, aquatic invertebrates, and fish. She completed her Master of Science thesis on unionid relocation and four years of monitoring in the Ohio River. Most of her work involves resolving aquatic species issues associated with regulatory permit compliance and assisting government agencies with management of aquatic species, particularly endangered species. She has assisted private industry and government clients with aquatic issues associated with construction and operation of pipelines, bridges, intakes/discharges, hydropower, navigation, fleeting, dredging, loading/unloading facilities, riverfront development, dam removal, bank stabilization, mine development, and sand and gravel dredging.
She has served as an expert unionid mussel and invertebrate witness for a municipal wastewater treatment plant, coal mine, power plants, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She has been invited to present papers on mussel sampling at workshops for FMCS and SFS (formerly NABS) and conduct workshops on mussel habitat, identification, and sampling techniques. She is also an instructor for the Conservation Biology of Freshwater Mussel course and the Scientific River Diving Safety course at the USFWS National Conservation Training Center.
She was part of the recovery team for Pleurobema clava/Epioblasma rangiana and Leptodea leptodon. She is currently working with the Mussel Coordination Team monitoring Lampsilis higginsii in the Upper Mississippi River.
Education
Master of Science, Biology, 1991
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois
Bachelor of Science, Wildlife Science, 1979
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
